Sydney is a city that loves to party. New Year’s kicks off each year which then quickly folds into Australia Day at the end of January. February begins with Chinese New Year and right on its heels is Mardi Gras. Mardi Gras is the largest celebration of LGBT culture and pride in the southern hemisphere. People come in from all parts of the world to escape winter and to celebrate.

Fair Day kicks off Mardi Gras here in Sydney. Fair Day takes over Victoria Park with various booths run by companies, outreach groups, community groups, and everything else under the sun. When I took from the event was that it really was like a fair. They had rides, games, carnival food and all the things that you would expect at a small town fair. It was quaint. 🙂

The ball toss seem to have a sizable line to it. As an Australian take on an old favorite the contestants had to use a rugby ball to dunk the guy in. A quick toss of the ball took him down.

ANZ Bank (pronounced a n zed) was the big corporate sponsor. The music at Fair Day was actually pretty good. This particular song the singer was talking about all the dimensions of cat food. It was a blend of comedy and music.

I remember being in Southern California on the Santa Monica pier learning to use my new camera. I was so focused at the time on using slow shutter speeds to minimize grain that the pictures came out blurry. I’ve learned modern SLR cameras can tolerate quite a bit of ISO that it’s fairly easy to capture motion. You can just see the expression of fear and wonder as they were being slung around on the ride.

I wondered though how the guy in the left managed not to get kicked in the face.

Big carnival rides just are not for me. Sure, the Ferris wheel is fine but this was much rougher on the body as you turned all different directions as the wheel spun around.

I don’t think these three new with the Disco Show really entailed it was going to be a high-speed spin through a vertical. Just looking at the ride made me nauseous.

Sydney is as welcoming to LGBT folk as any. Just like San Francisco, it was great to see the flag flying at town hall.

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Published by Dan Radigan

You'll find Dan at the intersection of riding, technology, and photography. A wanderlust by nature, he's often spending weekends exploring the world by bike, capturing it by camera, and sharing the experience with technology. The best experiences are agile, both at work and in life. Contact me to learn more.
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3 thoughts on “Fair Day 2014”

I’m now thinking of the memories of New Year’s Eve by Circular Quay with a bunch of Irish people of all things. All throughout Australia, I met a LOT of Irish folks. BTW, great shot with the guy who almost got kicked in the face 🙂